Kage no Oni: Requiem of Redemption
by PhantomWraith
Summary: Sequel to Kage no Oni. Horrified by his actions which have destroyed all live on the planet, the Hive included, the Demon of Shadow seeks to redeem himself and prove his worth of forgiveness from not only Kami, but the innocent he murdered in cold blood.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Aliens/Predator/AVP.

Kage no Oni:

Requiem of Redemption

Prologue

He looked back on what he had done wrong, on what he had done to the world itself, to warrant such a punishment as this. At first, he- the one called 'demon'- thought that humans were the real monsters. Then they became a valuable resource to the Hive. Then pawns. It wasn't until after the Geido Mezou statue exploded that he realized _he_ was the one called the _Devil_.

The Seven Deadly Sins all rolled into one. Wrath; His anger was immense and uncontrollable. Greed; He took what he wanted when he wanted it without a care for the consequences. Lust; He spread the infection of the Hive to any and every woman he deemed worthy. Envy; Jealous of those who grew up with loving parents, friends, and family, he took it all away from them with his own two hands. Pride; He took orders only from himself and looked down on mankind as if he were a god. Sloth; He did what he wanted when he wanted to do it and not a moment sooner. Gluttony; He who swallowed the world with his Hive, hungered for more.

He fell to his knees with his head held low and for the first time in his life since he was but a small child…he _cried_. The Demon of Shadow was actually shedding tears of sorrow and pain, of despair and horror. He looked at his clawed hands and saw only red. They were stained with the blood of _humanity_. He looked deep into himself and saw only a blackened heart bearing no soul.

He knew if and when he died, he would be cast down and condemned to an eternity of pain and torture in Makai. He didn't want that. He had to change his fate. He had to right his wrongs.

Dragging himself to his feet, he started working on the only thing that could give him a second chance at life. Minutes, hours, days ticked by with the speed and agility of a snail to Naruto as he worked restlessly. By the end of the week, he was done.

Stepping into the center of the massive hundred meter wide seal array he had drawn upon the ground, he looked up at the dark cloudy sky above as he activated the array beneath his feet. A crack formed in the thick black clouds, a beam of light shining down on him and him alone. Even as the seal took hold on his body, he felt as if Kami Herself was watching him with hope in Her eyes.

"Forgive me, Kami, for I have sinned…" Naruto whispered softly as he closed his eyes, shedding another tear as the clearing was illuminated in a momentary flash of white light. Nothing remained of him to show he had been there…


	2. Chapter 1: Second Chances

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Aliens/Predator/AVP.

Kage no Oni:

Requiem of Redemption

Chapter One: Second Chances

"_**Prove Yourself, My Child."**_

His eyes snapped open upon hearing the ethereal voice, the words echoing within his head. Looking around, Naruto found himself in a hospital bed, his armor having returned to the seals on his body and his clothes replaced with a patient's hospital smock.

Standing up and grabbing his clothes off the table across the room, Naruto dressed himself before looking in the mirror set in the corner.

Standing at 7'4" and heavily muscled, Naruto knew he would be feared just like he used to be. His black hair was still twisted into dozens of dreadlocks that fell to the middle of his back, his eyes were still pitch black with silver slit pupils, his claws were still black and sharp enough to easily shred steel, his fangs were still long and acutely pointed, and he still had his black barbed Xenomorph tail, the spinal armor plating, and the four dorsal tubes on his back.

He was wearing baggy black pants tucked into black armored knee-high combat boots, a black sleeveless zippered turtleneck top, black fingerless gloves, a black cloth face mask, and a long-sleeve fishnet top under his shirt.

Hearing the door open, Naruto slowly turned away from the mirror and looked at his visitors with lifeless black eyes. He bowed at the waist, seeing just who it was.

"Yondaime Hokage, Lady Kushina. What warrants you visiting a lost soul such as I?" He inquired in a soft, but cold manner. It wasn't out of disrespect or animosity, but out of sorrow. Kushina noticed it, but said nothing.

"I'm going to be blunt with you. Who are you? Why are you here?" Minato questioned a tad coldly, yet a little off-set by the fact this mysterious giant knew them already and how he referred to himself as a 'lost soul'.

"My name…" Naruto whispered softly as he looked away. "My name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. I am from a parallel universe to this one and I came here to redeem myself for my sins against my home."

"What? Who the hell do you think you are? Coming here and trying to-" Minato's angered rant was cut short as Naruto, moving too fast for either to react, placed his hands on their heads and transferred his memories over to them. All of them, from the moment he was born up until they entered the room. He showed them everything, down to the very sound of his victims screaming in fear and pain to his thoughts of horror before he came here.

"Do you understand now?" Naruto asked as he stepped back and turned his gaze to the floor, letting his arms fall to his sides limply. "I doubt I'll get it, but I seek forgiveness for the horrors I committed to my world. I seek redemption for my sins."

The pair stood there silently, their eyes glazed over still as tears fell from Kushina's emerald eyes. Kushina was the first to move, slowly wrapping her arms around Naruto in a warm hug. Freezing at the foreign contact, Naruto stared down at the much shorter woman in shock before hesitantly reciprocating the kindness Kushina was showing him and slowly wrapped his arms around her.

"If it is alright with you, Minato, I would like to re-join Konoha as a hunter-nin. That way, I do not cause you any-"

"Mom! Dad!" Cried a young teenage girl that was about 5'6" with long red hair and green eyes bearing black slit pupils as she ran into the room. She had on blood red pants, a black tank top, black shinobi sandals, black fingerless gloves, and a black leather jacket while her hitai-ate was wrapped around her neck. "I did it! I graduated from the Academy!"

"That's wonderful, dear!" Kushina exclaimed in joy. Having released Naruto and spun around while quickly wiping away her tears before the young woman came into the room, Kushina hugged her sixteen year old daughter with a beaming smile. When they parted, the girl looked behind her mother.

"Who's the tall guy? And why does he have a tail and weird things sticking out of his back?" She asked curiously, not at all afraid of his unusual appearance. Kushina and Minato turned to look at Naruto, but found no one there.

"How did you see me?" Naruto asked as he deactivated his Yami Ooi, revealing that he was standing right in front of her while leaning down so he was eye-level with her. All she did was give him a big grin and scratched the back of her neck as she shrugged. Then he saw the faint distortion around her eyes…

"Ah, I see…" Naruto whispered as he plucked the normal looking black-framed sunglasses from her face and stood up straight, smiling softly as the girl gave him a look of pure shock and astonishment before pouting childishly.

"So this is how you did it." Naruto held them close enough to his face so he could see through the black lenses. Everything was in infrared. "Did you make this yourself?"

"Yep!" She chirped proudly with that same beaming grin as her mother.

"Excellent work, but they're far from being complete, obviously." Naruto praised the girl as he handed her the unique eyewear, crouching slightly again so he was eye-level with the girl. "What's your name?"

"Uzumaki-Namikaze Asuka." The girl replied.

"I'm Naruto, an old…friend of your parents and I'm an inventor myself. I'd love to teach you more about inventing new technologies and help you with anything you're currently building." Then he looked up at Minato and Kushina while standing up. "If your parents will let me, that is."

"Can he, Mom?" Please, please, please?" Asuka begged as she turned to Kushina, who glanced at Minato, who gave a hesitant nod of approval, still shell-shocked from what his…_son_ showed them.

"Sure, honey. He can help you." Kushina responded with a smile. Asuka cheered in excitement before hugging her mother.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She cried before turning on Naruto and practically tackling him as she wrapped her arms around his neck, having jumped at him. Laughing a little as he lowered the sixteen year old teenage girl the foot or two back down to the ground, Naruto felt as if the weight on his shoulders was a fraction lighter than before.

"Alright, now run along. I'll make sure your father teaches you something new later tonight before dinner." Kushina told her daughter while casting a look at Minato that said 'Do it or die'. As Asuka ran out of the room, smiling the whole way, Kushina looked back at Naruto with a soft motherly smile.

"You may not have come from me personally, but you're still my son." She pointed out, pausing momentarily. "I want you to come live with us, Naruto."

"Kushina, he's-" Minato attempted in cutting in, but Kushina rounded on him with a fierce glare that the blonde had never seen her use on him before.

"He's what, Minato? What were you going to say? A monster? A demon?" She questioned as she backed him up against the wall with tears in her eyes. "He's our _son_, Minato. He's realized that what he did was wrong and wants to be forgiven. Now you better accept that and help him or I swear, I'll make your life a living hell until the day one of us dies."

"…" Minato stayed silent as he looked away.

"Lady Kushina, I couldn't possibly intrude on your family's personal life." Naruto tried to decline, but Kushina wasn't having it.

"First, don't call me that. I'm your mother so at least just call me 'Kushina' if you aren't going to call me 'mom'. Second, it's not just _my_ family, but _our_ family. _Your_ family, Sochi." Kushina explained to him, desperately trying to get him to open up to her. Naruto looked down at the floor again before looking at his hands; they weren't stained such a dark red anymore, but not by much.

"…" Silently, Naruto looked out the window. Before Kushina or Minato could move to stop him, Naruto bolted _through_ the window in search of solace. He needed time to think, time to organize his thoughts. He was being over-whelmed by the chaotic maelstrom of foreign emotions coursing through his body. He needed to return to his safe haven, if it still existed.

/_\

The next day, Naruto came back. He agreed to live with them, but on the condition he gets to be the jounin sensei for Asuka's team, no matter what anyone else says. Minato agreed to his terms, seeing as it made both his wife and daughter happy. He was then given the guest house for himself on the Uzumaki-Namikaze clan compound and 'adopted' into the family later that day.

Naruto, who had resorted to wearing a trench coat to hide his dorsal tubes- which he kept flat against his back- and tail, sighed softly as he sat down on a bench. The top of the Hokage Mountain was his favorite thinking spot before he became a part of the Hive.

His haven, however, was a small park that sat between the Inuzuka and Aburame clan compounds. It was peaceful, isolated from society. Not many people visited it except for a select few members of the clans flanking the serene park Naruto called heaven.

But that was back in his time line, his world. After quietly sitting there for several hours since around noon, Naruto was pleased to find the park to be almost identical to how he remembered it. Isolated, quiet, serene. The many different breeds and species of insects that filled the park were of a different variety than he remembered, but it was only a small change he could get accustomed to.

He was broken from his nostalgia when a black wasp landed on his hand. Raising it up so he could see it better, Naruto noticed violet colored markings running down its body and its violet colored eyes.

"Truly a thing of wonder. Unremarkably beautiful and yet frighteningly deadly." Naruto noted as he watched the wasp fly off. "Don't you think so, Aburame-san?"

"Hai." The young woman of about 19 or 20 years of age responded as she sat down beside Naruto on the bench. She had long black hair pulled back into a high pony tail that reached down to the middle of her back and cream colored skin. He couldn't tell what color her eyes were due to the sunglasses. She was currently wearing black pants, black steel-toe boots, a grey sleeveless turtleneck pullover, black elbow-length gloves, and a grey hooded trench coat.

"Naruto." He greeted politely as he held his hand out to her. She hesitantly took his hand and shook it, obviously caught off guard that he was being so friendly to her. It was rare for an Aburame to find someone that wasn't afraid of them due to their insect companions.

"Kira." The Aburame answered, her cheeks burning from behind the high collar of her trench coat when Naruto lightly kissed her hand.

'_Stupid idiot…Always choosing to do new and different things at the wrong moment…'_ Naruto mentally berated himself as he gently released the woman's hand, feeling a little awkward at the moment. For nearly three hours, the two sat in silence.

Then, the silence was broken…

"Would you like to get something to eat?" Kira inquired without looking at the obscenely tall man sitting beside her. Naruto glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before looking forward again, enjoying the sight of a few brightly colored butterflies dance over the surface of a small crystal clear pond a short distance away.

"That sounds fine. Was there any place in particular you wanted to go to?" Naruto asked in return, looking down at a small emerald green spider crawling across his hand with a black dot in the center of its back.

"How does smoked fish sound to you?" Kira asked, finally looking at Naruto as said person glanced up at the sky. The sun was already starting to disappear below the horizon. He _was_ hungry, after all…

/_\

As Kira walked home later that evening, she found Naruto to be an enigma, a mystery that kept gnawing at the back of her mind like how a termite would eat away at wood in preparation for its colony. While gentle, she could feel an immense ocean of power rippling just beneath his skin, controlled and yet chaotic at the same time. While quiet, she could tell there was much he wanted to say, but wouldn't.

She sighed softly, remembering the tail she spotted and the four odd ridges running down his back, barely visible through the fabric of his trench coat. Then she remembered his strange black eyes and silvery white slit pupils, his sharp claws and his long fangs, the strange way he seemed to hiss nervously at one point when he started getting strange looks from others as they walked down the street.

'_Kind of like me…'_ Kira thought sadly, thinking about how she and her clan were practically ostracized by the civilians and some shinobi because of the fact they work with insects of all kinds, some of which using their very bodies as hives and colonies, and think with logic instead of instinct. _'If only I knew more about you, Naruto-san…'_

/_\

Silently climbing up a large tree just outside of the compound walls, Naruto slowly crept along a long branch that nearly reached the edge of the roof on the guest house's second floor. Tensing his muscles, he leapt from the branch and clung to the wall, crawling along it until he reached the window to his room. After climbing in and taking his boots off, Naruto tossed his new trench coat over the back of a couch he kept in his room in place of a bed before jumping up and grabbing the rafter he had installed in the room.

Crawling on top of it and lying down on his stomach, Naruto wrapped his tail around the wooden beam and, for the first time in years, he let himself relax. He had taken to sleeping high off the ground at the age of seven, not long after joining the Hive, when he kept getting stepped on by the once-larger Xenomorphs as they patrolled through the tunnels of the Hive.

It was odd, seeing as he hadn't slept like this since he took over Konoha all those years ago and yet here he was, practically glued to a rafter in his own home. His home. _His_ home. His _home_. It still sounded foreign to him. He was still used to saying _Hive_, not _home_.

Shaking his head to clear away such thoughts, Naruto felt something in his pocket. Taking it out, he discovered it to be one of the paint pellets left over from his and Skittles last pranking spree just a week before the world was destroyed by his own mechanics. Squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to force back the tears, Naruto let the pellet fall from his hand.

He missed that mischievous little bastard…

Now, it was just him, hive-less, alone in a world full of people again. Just like it used to be. Sure, he had family now, but that didn't mean much to him when they weren't the ones that actually conceived him or raised him from a child. He'd try to accept them over time, but until then, he still couldn't fathom the idea of having a family…

Dispelling such thoughts from his head, Naruto rolled over onto his back as his tail remained coiled around the rafter beneath him. He had a week to prepare before he began his new job as a jounin sensei for not only his little sister, but two other genin of similar age.

What the hell was he thinking, asking to be a sensei? He didn't know how to deal with greenhorn genin fresh out of the Academy and teach them. Then it hit him. Maybe he didn't need to actually _teach_ them anything, but really just _guide_ them to the right path.

'_Too few even know how to interpret the Long Hunt or the meaning of its name…'_ Naruto thought to himself as he slowly slunk from the rafter and crawled over to his desk, grabbing several thick journals and a pen. Staring down at the plain black leather cover of the journal, Naruto felt it needed something on it.

'_The Long Hunt sounds perfect. Straight to the point and crystal clear.'_ Naruto mused, satisfied with his choice as he summoned a touch of chakra to the tip of his right index finger and carved the symbol for it into the cover before taking a little bit of silver pain the found earlier that day and applied it to the engraved characters on the cover.

'_The Five Virtues of the Hunter…'_ Naruto thought as he opened the book and started writing down everything he could think of about how a Predator, a Hunter, behaves both in society and on a hunt…


	3. Chapter 2: The Long Hunt

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Aliens/Predator/AVP.

Kage no Oni:

Requiem of Redemption

Chapter Two: The _Long Hunt_

The week passed swiftly for Naruto, who had used that free time to enlighten himself with the world's history and memorize the exact layout of the village. That included hidden passageways, old/new blueprints of every building in the village, secret ANBU entry/exit points in Konoha's defensive walls, accurate layouts of every clan compound in the village, and even 99.99% geographically/topographically accurate layouts of all two-hundred-thirty-nine training grounds- actively used or abandoned- inside and outside of Konoha's walls.

All of it perfectly memorized down to the smallest damn detail from how the walls or leaves feel on the tips of his fingers to the type/grade of stone, dirt, wood, or plants- including grass- that was beneath his feet; he had visited every square inch of the village to ensure the information was accurate.

Cloaking devices were incredibly useful when doing recon…

He was a very meticulous and methodical hunter/tracker now, having spent the years of solitude embedding himself and engraving the ways of the Predators, the Yaut'ja, into his mind and body. Even their way of life of life-journey, the Long Hunt, was now Naruto's own life-journey, his _religion_.

He had even gone so far as to write down every thing he knew of their lifestyle and the meaning/laws of the Yaut'ja spiritual journey of the Long Hunt in triplicate format, _by hand_, with simple translations, easily digestible explanations, and side notes mixed in with the contents of his 'diaries'. Naruto actually included his own personal thoughts and feelings on the Long Hunt as well as edited and censored personal experiences that were related to the Long Hunt.

He wanted his past to remain a secret and to let it die in the eternal sea of time…

He could have easily added a seal array or three to have completely erased his memories, leaving the essentials and pure knowledge on how to operate his Pred-tech and abilities, but Naruto didn't do it for two reasons; One, he wanted to remember everything he did. Second, he was afraid that he might just repeat his actions.

On a side note, Naruto had even studied the myths and lore of the world as well as memorizing every single law he could find, including civilian, shinobi, clan, treaty, theological, and even theoretical political laws.

Apparently there were no Bijuu, which confused Naruto at first. From what the ancient records he found stated that the Bijuu were around for only a couple _decades_ after the Sage of Six Paths split the Juubi into nine separate beings. However, less than a century after they disappeared, ten clans appeared during the start of the Clan Wars, long before the _concept_ of the Hidden Villages was even _thought of_.

"_Each of the ten clans, having their own rules and abilities like any other bloodline clan, had only one thing in common with each other. Their members had become one with the spirit beasts of their respective clans, giving them certain physical traits or abilities unique to them alone. The Raccoon Dog, the Hellcat, the Turtle, the Ape, the Whale Horse, the Gastropod, the Beetle, the Ox-Cephalopod, the Fox, and the Demon."_

The names of seven clans were too faded to read, but three names were still illegible to the multi-breed giant that enlightened him to some things and yet confused a little bit more at the same time.

"_The Fox, theorized- but never proven- to be or to be related to the Kyuubi no Kitsune, was the spirit beast of the __**Uzumaki**__ clan. The Raccoon Dog, again theorized to be or to be related to the Ichibi no Tanuki, was the spirit beast of the Sabaku clan._

_According to legend, the ten clans- the Seishin Yajuu (Spirit Beast) clans- had only a single Chosen One every couple generations that would master their spirit beasts, the very ones of their clan, and bring great honor to their clan, be it from peace or war. These Chosen Ones had the physical might of three hundred men, a gifted mind in one particular field or another (strategy, politics, technology, etc.), and had two separate 'modes' when concerning their spirit beast._

_The first mode, or stage, was the 'Berserker' stage. Activated through tremendous anger, sorrow, or distress, the Chosen One's spirit beast will 'wake up' and their power would flood the Chosen One's body. Unaccustomed to the sudden spike of power from the foreign energy, the Chosen One, as the stage title suggests, will go berserk, maiming and/or killing anything they feel threatened by in their immediate vicinity with extreme prejudice._

_The 'Berserker' stage is also the most crucial mode of a Chosen One's ascension to an Awakened, the final stage of the Chosen Ones' growth in power, because it is the deciding factor, their salvation or damnation. If they cannot obtain control of their spirit beast and calm down, they would most definitely be driven mad by the power and become a mindless beast killing everything in sight._

_The second stage, called 'The Ascension', is where the Chosen One comes under the tutelage of their spirit beast and, depending on the number of tails it has, gradually masters each level of their spirit beast's power, making it their own one tail at a time. Upon completing their training, the Chosen One will become an Awakened One, gifted with the ability to transform or shift into either a twilight form between human and their spirit beast or into their spirit beast itself._

_The Awakened Ones are also granted full control over their 'Berserker' stage, allowing them to call on their spirit beast's power at any time without transforming. Their power can be used for anything from boosting their speed, strength, reflexes, and stamina to completely leveling anything in front of them with a single punch._

_The Chosen Ones, from the day their clans' spirit beast chooses their next champion, are gifted with powerful healing factors that varied in strength, which depended on the number of tails the spirit beast had. The more tails it had, the stronger/faster/smarter they and their champions were, healing factors included._

_The Demon, unlike the nine other clan spirits, had no known description of how the Demon spirit may appear as. The clan linked to it, the Kagetenshi, were known to be an extremely anti-social, purposefully barren of allies, and a uniquely cautious and highly secretive clan of __**true**__ ansatsusha, true assassins._

_The Kagetenshi were the first clan to fully incorporate stealth, assassination techniques, espionage, sabotage, and discipline achieved only through true balance with the cycle of life and Nature Itself in their most basic training programs for their young shinobi in-training. The Kagetenshi clan had essentially laid the foundation for modern day shinobi techniques and styles. Nin-, Gen-, Tai-, and Kenjutsu didn't even scratch the surface of how influential the Kagetenshi clan had been through sheer reverse osmosis into the world around them."_

Naruto was about to close his hand-copied record of the 'Chosen Ones and the Seishin Yajuu' record, done by a clone autonomously copying it without actually 'reading' the scripture as it worked, when his eyes caught sight of something on the next page of the book, seeing as the clone that copied the original record made the journals wording, condition of the print (faded/worn), and illustrations perfectly identical to that of the old scroll he found in the vault/library only the Hokage, and those he wished, could enter. Seeing a drawing of a great war as the two sides were mere feet from clashing, Naruto turned the page.

"_The Kagetenshi, late into the Clan Wars, suddenly vanished from the face of the Earth not long after their mightiest Awakened in history and clan head led them into battle against the nine other Seishin Yajuu clans and their own Awakened and Chosen Ones._

_All ten clans were almost completely eradicated in this tremendous lightning war that spanned all across the globe with almost one and a half __**MILLION**__ shinobi from the ten Seishin Yajuu clans alone, who were the only clans involved in this incredibly short, but exceedingly bloody war."_

Naruto, too enraptured by the history/legend of the Seishin Yajuu clans, never noticed that his three new students had arrived to the training ground they had been told to go to by their former chuunin instructor, who had been told by Naruto to send them here after the teams had been assigned.

Naruto felt so lucky when Minato gave him the chance to look over the files of all the new graduates and hand-pick the team he wanted to teach. Obviously, Naruto pounced on the opportunity like a hunting pack of starved Warriors ambushing their prey…

"_The Kagetenshi clan head and Awakened went to war with the nine other Seishin Yajuu clans when they conspired to assassinate him after slaughtering his loved ones and possibly the whole Kagetenshi clan afterwards. Even the elderly, the ill, expecting or nursing mothers, and even the young, who couldn't even walk or talk, let alone fight, were to be slaughtered like cattle._

_Enraged beyond what had been thought to be physically impossible, the Kagetenshi Awakened was said to have been locked in an unending 'Berserker' stage, spending the entire week of preparation and four days of non-stop battle without a moment's rest of the smallest morsel of food in his body._

_Even in this unconsciously self-induced state of weakness, the Kagetenshi Awakened was relentless and without mercy as he, a true hunter of all beasts and devoted follower/warrior of his personally made religion or code, the Long Hunt, mauled every single Seishin Yajuu shinobi that was not of the Kagetenshi clan, letting the suffer slowly and painfully all alone in the middle of nowhere until they finally succumbed to their wounds and died._

_It was said that it was his was of letting the true instigators of the 'Spirit War' know what a mere fraction of the pain and despair he felt when his spies told him about their plans of betrayal after nearly a hundred and twenty years of neutrality and peace among the ten Seishin Yajuu clans."_

Naruto, finally noticing his students, tossed each of them a copy of his _Long Hunt_ diary/journal without looking up from his book. Asuka, knowing what her adoptive 'O-nii-kun' wanted them to do, told her team mates to start reading as they waited.

"_Out of the 1.5 million shinobi involved in the 'Spirit War', the Kagetenshi had the least number of shinobi starting at only about seventy-five thousand and walking away with just over a fifth of their initial forces, coming out at nearly fifteen thousand Kagetenshi clan members. The nine other clans, who had roughly a hundred-fifty thousand shinobi from each clan, barely made it back home with their lives, returning to their chosen territories with __**no more**__ than five thousand shinobi from each of the nine clans, almost a third of the remaining Kagetenshi forces._

_The Kagetenshi Awakened, despite winning the war and returning most of his people to their families and loved ones, was not satisfied and was angrier than ever before. During the actual 'Spirit War', a small group of powerful shinobi from the clan of the Ox-cephalopod spirit beast slipped past the Kagetenshi forces and infiltrated their main settlement, murdering every single person in the Kagetenshi clan head's immediate family as they slept in their beds, dreaming of when their brother, son, husband, and father would return victorious and in one piece."_

Naruto paused in his reading as he looked at his students for a second, pleased that they were reading his journal with keen interest. He could relate to the Awakened one of the mysterious Kagetenshi clan. Naruto knew the limit of his anger and power, but he would go above and beyond such limitations to move Heaven and Earth if it meant to avenge or protect his loved ones and…family…

"_The Awakened One of the Kagetenshi clan knew more than he let on or showed when, though quite rare, in the presence of the other Seishin Yajuu clan heads or any other Seishin Yajuu clan member. Even in front of his own people, he played ignorant or blind to some things, but he knew more about any of the nine other Seishin Yajuu clans than they themselves did._

_For this reason, he knew the Uzumaki and Sabaku clans of the Fox and Raccoon Dog, respectively, had been forced into the 'Spirit War' by the clans of the Ape, Whale Horse, and Ox-cephalopod under the threat of total annihilation of their clans if they didn't co-operate._

_Normally, such a threat from any other bloodline clan in the world would be ignored or the clan that threatened them would be reduced to a mere handful of members the next night. However, the Uzumaki clan's Chosen One was still in the middle of 'The Ascension', having mastered only three or four of the Fox's nine tails._

_The Sabaku clan was in a similar state. Their Chosen One, while of Awakened status, was fairly new to it and incredibly young, not even at the age of ten yet. On top of that, the Raccoon Dog spirit beast was the weakest of the other eight Seishin Yajuu; no one knew how powerful the Demon spirit beast truly was, as with all Kagetenshi Chosen and Awakened Ones, none of them used anything other than their 'Berserker' stage in their entire life since the very beginning of the Seishin Yajuu clans._

_Because they were forced into the war, the Kagetenshi Awakened killed the fewest of their clan during the four day long blood bath and even spared the Uzumaki and Sabaku clans, killing only their Chosen and Awakened Ones, respectively, when he went on a solitary rampage._

_Starting with the clan of the Hellcat, the Awakened One meticulously and methodically slew every member of the Seishin Yajuu clans, sans the Uzumaki and Sabaku, until only a small number of their civilian members were left in each of the clans. The clan of the Ox-cephalopod was struck the worst, being reduced to mere single digits where as the Ape and Whale Horse clans were in the mid-teens._

_After slaying nearly four-hundred-seventy-five thousand shinobi during the 'Spirit War', the Awakened One of the Demon spirit beast went on to kill another thirteen thousand innocents from each of the seven clans that banned together to destroy him and his people before suddenly…_

_He vanished without a trace…_

_It remains unknown to this day if the Kagetenshi Awakened One of the Demon spirit beast died of any wounds received in the war or if he died of starvation after a month-long campaign against his clan's traitorous cousins, but one thing is for certain; his religion, the Long Hunt, was adopted by the entire Kagetenshi clan and is believed to still follow the Awakened One's rules, laws, and guidelines of the Long Hunt to this very day…if they still exist, that is…_

_After the 'Spirit War' was officially over and the ten Seishin Yajuu clans returned to their old ways of neutrality and peace, leaving one another alone as they licked their wounds from the war and struggled to survive. The Chosen Ones continued to exist, appearing every few generations in the clans, but none have been known to complete 'The Ascension' and become an Awakened One. Many Chosen Ones had tried since the end of the war, but their clans' respective spirit beasts would never let their chosen champions complete the training during 'The Ascension' stage of their growth._

_Heed this warning, any and all Chosen Ones; Do not demand anything of the Seishin Yajuu or they __**WILL**__ kill you without a moment of hesitation and simply wait for the next life with the potential to be their new champion appeared._

_I now finish the tale of my past with my last breath…"_

_Signed,_

_A Lost Hunter On The Long Hunt_

Sighing softly as he closed the book, Naruto put it away in his trench coat before clearing his throat to get the attention of his students, holding his left wrist in his right hand behind his back with his feet spread apart at shoulder-width; it was a standard stance he had seen many Colonial Marines take in the past whenever given permission to be 'at ease', as they say, by their commanding officer or by any other military official of superior rank.

"Thank you all for waiting patiently and reading the books I handed to each of you." Naruto praised briefly with a slight touch of frost to his tone of voice as his three students stood up after closing their books, giving him their full attention.

"Um…O-nii-sensei?" Asuka curiously piped up as she slowly leafed through the _Long Hunt_. "This is a rather interesting journal and all, but what is its purpose? Who was the author?"

"Before I answer your questions, Asuka-chan, I just want to congratulate the three of you on passing my test." Naruto praised again, but his three students- Uzumaki-Namikaze Asuka, Inuzuka Hanone, and Yamanaka Seion- were confused by his words. "Each jounin sensei has a certain test they give their newly graduated team of genin. Normally, they focus around team mate, but mine was one of patience."

"That was one of the Five Virtues of the Hunter, right?" Seion questioned, receiving a nod of confirmation from Naruto as he smiled slightly behind his mask, his eyes softening a growing kinder. He then took the journals from them.

"That is correct. Now, it's ok if you can't remember, but what are all five virtues?" Naruto questioned Seion directly, ignoring the fact Asuka's hand shot into air moments after he finished speaking.

"They were Patience, Honor…Um…" Seion bit her bottom lip nervously as she looked down at the ground, blushing faintly out of embarrassment.

"Take you time. You aren't being graded on this." Naruto appeased the girl, who visibly calmed. "I'm merely testing your memory skills right now."

"H-Hai, sensei." Seion stuttered softly before gaining a look of realization on her face a minute later, her turquoise eyes shining with a brief flicker of confidence as she brushed a strand of her shoulder-length platinum blonde hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.

"The Five Virtues of the Hunter are Patience, Honor, Control, Benevolence, and Loyalty. Did I get it right, sensei?" Seion proudly answered before asking him shyly, her blush darkening a little as she bowed her head a bit.

"Yes, those are the five virtues. They are also the very same principles your training will be dictated by. You have merely passed the initiation test for the Virtue of Patience. Every week, I will discipline you in Patience on Mondays, Honor on Tuesdays, Control on Wednesdays, Benevolence on Thursdays, and Loyalty on Fridays. On Saturdays, I will train each of you individually and then on Sundays, we'll take on one or two D-rank missions in the morning to build up your team work before returning here and further working on your team work skills, only it will be you three against one of my clones. Any Questions?"

"I've got one, sensei. What's the purpose of teaching us the Five Virtues of the _Hunter_ when we're clearly _shinobi_?" Inuzuka Hanone finally chimed in. In Naruto's opinion, she closely resembled her older sister, Hana, more than anything, but lacked a canine companion of any kind unlike the rest of her clan.

He could smell what he guessed to be Highland and Arctic Wolf in her blood, an oddity he was sure that only he really knew, sans her family, and after spotting her permanently lengthened claws and canine teeth along with her acutely dilated black slit pupils that floated in twin pools of icy blue, Naruto figured she must have been chosen by either a low/mid-level spirit beast that chose her for a champion or she had been bitten by some kind of were-wolf.

The first option sounded more reasonable than a wear-beast attacking her, but Naruto wouldn't know for sure until he could get a good look around inside her head and soul.

"You don't get it, do you?" Naruto quietly growled as the temperature in the clearing dropped so low, the three girls in front of him could see their breath. All signs of him being in a good mood changed into frosty disappointment. "Shinobi _are_ hunters. They track down and kill their target either for the bounty on their head or to keep their village safe."

"…" Hanone, although retaining her stubbornness and courage under his verbal assault, broke eye contact with her sensei. Even when he's in a good mood, his black eyes made her feel…naked…

"Think of it from the perspective of an Alpha wolf with a pack, a life-mate, and pups to feed and protect. Without him there to hunt down food for his pack, who will help him protect his family? If he doesn't hunt for food to feed his family, how will his pack grow?" Naruto growled out as he forced Hanone to look him in the eye again. "Do you understand what I'm telling you, Hanone? Hunters will _always_ be around. You're not going to be kept safe behind Konoha's walls forever. You need to learn the truth about the _real_ world that lies beyond the white stone walls, to learn how to protect yourself from it, to learn of the dangers that await you out there. Do you understand?"

"…Y-Yes, sir…" Hanone answered softly as her eyes- still burning with unrelenting courage and determination- grew misty with tears. Naruto's eyes softened instantly as the temperature returned to normal, gently pulling Hanone into a comforting hug.

"Oh, hush…Shh, it's alright, Hanone. I'm sorry." Naruto cooed softly into the side of his student's head as she buried her face against his chest, clinging to him for dear life as she silently cried into his shirt. "I'm sorry, Hanone, but I just need to make sure you girls know how to properly protect yourselves from the horrors the future holds in store for _everyone_, myself included; not just you…Shh.."

After a few more minutes of her clinging to him as if he were the only thing keeping her alive, Hanone slowly let go of Naruto and wiped away her tears before recomposing herself, appearing as if her feelings hadn't been hurt in the first place.

"Ahem, seeing as today is Saturday, I want each of you to pair off with one of my clones, who you will have a no-moves barred spar with for half an hour. Ninjutsu and Genjutsu is permitted, just don't wear yourselves out too bad because we're going to be here for a while." Naruto instructed them as he passed back the journals to his all-female genin team while creating three Kage Bunshin. "The journals are now your only life line while training under me. Do not worry how fast or slow your team mate is learning; just worry about yourself because you will not be permitted to learn anything new until you have your current lessons broken down into an art form."

"Hai, sensei!" All three girls chorused as they split up and scattered all across the clearing with a clone of Naruto with each of them.

As he instructed, his students started sparring with his clones, but he noticed something odd with one of them. Hanone, although in a fighting stance, wasn't moving as she and his clone tried to stare the other down.

'_It seems she took my words to heart, but this isn't the day to learn Patience, Hanone.'_ Naruto thought to himself in mild amusement, shaking his head slightly with a bemused smirk. _'She will be an amusing one to teach as will Asuka. Seion, however, will be a little tougher to work with because of her little self-esteem and confidence issue. I'll have to pull her out of that little rut soon and fast.'_

He then took the time to get a good look at his three students. Uzumaki-Namikaze Asuka was a power house hooked up to a 1.21 Gigawatt generator, but a wild card as well due to the possibility of her being the next Chosen One of the Uzumaki clan's spirit beast; the Fox.

Inuzuka Hanone, also a wild card for similar reasons, was pretty much a beastly female gladiator when it came to taijutsu seeing as she had remained undefeated in her class from start to end. She had untidy chin-length obsidian hair and unusually light colored skin for a tomboyish girl like her that has always been outside. She also stood at 5'6" with a lithe, athletic build.

She was wearing a dark brown leather vest with grey and tawny wolf fur lining the collar, shoulders, the bottom hem, and interior of the vest, a short-sleeved fish-net shirt, a black tube top covering her modest C-cup bust under the fish-net top since she usually left her vest open, a black elbow-length fingerless glove on her right forearm, a normal black fingerless glove on her left hand, baggy black, brown, and green camouflage pants tucked into black knee-high combat boots with bronze colored steel caps on the heel and toe of her boots, a pair of black leather belts crossed over each other around her waist that hung from her hips average-sized hips in an 'X' with a dangerously sharp kukri sheathed on each of them, and her Konoha hitai-ate tied around her neck.

Well-known for her short fuse and absolutely notorious for pummeling even upper-classmen boys at the Academy since day one for calling her names and making fun of her, Hanone would require a bit more than some TLC and spit n' polish to clean her act up and turn her into a hunter he would be proud to say he trained.

Yamanaka Seion, though painfully shy and uncertain of herself, had the potential to give him a run for his money in just raw intelligence. It was why he put Seion on the spot earlier, knowing the first chapter of the _Long Hunt_ only mentioned the Five Virtues of the Hunter once and in a foot-note, at that. He wanted to test the sharpness of her mind and her attention to detail by seeing if she- or one of the others, by chance- would read every little word written on the front and back of every page in the three hundred something page diary; they were just copies of the first volume out of the thirty-three volume series of books he had written on the Long Hunt…in triplicate…

Thank Kami for Kage Bunshin…

Standing at about 5'4", Seion was the shortest member of the team with a rather slender and frail looking build, but also the most important because without a logical plan of action or strategy, they could get killed…or worse…

She was wearing a pair of black stiletto style high-heel kunoichi sandals, a pair of tight-fitting black capri pants that hugged her legs and rear like a second skin, a black spaghetti-strap midriff-bearing tank top that looked like it was barely containing her surprisingly well-endowed and large E-cup breasts for a 16-17 year old young woman, a burgundy long-sleeve button-up blouse over it that had the top three or four buttons undone to reveal just enough cleavage to distract the average male, shinobi or not, and her hitai-ate was tied around her left thigh while her hair was pinned back with maroon or burgundy hair pins.

'_Man, seeing her personal attire, her fighting style, and supposedly 'shy' personality that actually makes her all the more attractive and cute, I can tell right now that training her is going to be a trip.'_ Naruto mused with mild disbelief as he watched his clone spar with Seion in taijutsu-only at the moment. Seion, for a 'shy' girl, was moving in rather provocative ways as she attacked or dodged so that it showed off her cleavage just enough to actually distract his clone after attempting a palm thrust to its chest and nearly hit it when she fluidly continued into a scorpion kick, again attempting to distract her opponent with the sinful pleasures of the flesh as her stiletto heel missed the clone's head by a hair's breadth.

He'll have to teach her when and when not to use such a seductively hypnotizing fighting style and improve on its offensive/defensive capabilities. Examining the exotic dance of death his student was performing, Naruto realized she was moving in just the right way that suggested she had probably trained in and could wear a mini-skirt or some other enticing dress while fighting with that particular fighting style with no problem. She'd be perfect for infiltrating a party or club to get close to a target.

Pulling out a note pad and pencil, Naruto started taking notes on what his students' strengths and weaknesses were from watching their spars, even listing a rough outline of a skill set or lesson plan for each of them…


End file.
